Saturday, April 5, 2008

Okay Everyone, Here We Go...

Only some of my initial thoughts.

I have been stirred up and inspired lately, thinking about Truth. Anything relating to the thought of it. What is truth? Is it relative? Is it absolute? Stuff like that. Moreover, I suppose I'm somewhat tackling the age old philosophical questions, to which many have answered with a variety of opinions or truth claims, or hypothesis. This is interesting because I have never been considered (nor have I ever considered myself) "intellectual" and as a matter of fact have never desired the study of Philosophy itself. Too much brain power and thinking, maybe? I already have my own set of values and what I consider Truth, so I feel like I'm safe. Why would I want to go back, and really explore why I believe what I believe and question if I really believe what I believe is really real? Ugh, just that last thought/sentence alone gave me a headache! It's like opening a gigantic can of worms. I'm more of a "study of communications" (spec. media) type of person, so I feel like I have a good handle on various world views, though I wouldn't be ready to explain them in detail if I needed to.

I think what has lit what has really become a flame in my soul about the topic of Truth was the experience of a dear friend of mine whom after a time of study and discipleship of the Bible decided that they could mix the non-compromising scriptures with external, seemingly "intellectual" truth claims. This decision of theirs caused me to look at both scripture and the "external" as a whole to make sure that everything "lined up". But in doing so, I realized that there are inconsistencies and of course should cause one to question the external truth claims and could possibly cause anyone to question the entire Truth of the Bible. (This all fueled by more Bible reading, messages from culture and the crazy recent opportunities to read some Francis Schaeffer and being asked to take part in "The Truth Project", more on these later!) So if it is an absolute truth that we are looking for, then I would cut out the external claims, or lies, and really it would be ridiculous to assume that truth is relative, because most claims to truth (ie. different religions, etc.) are exclusive, in and of itself! (More on that later...) I'm not saying that those who don't agree with a Biblical world view or won't accept Biblical answers are purposefully offering lies, I just know that if Philosophers, or even just every day people are looking for the Truth, then we all need to be cautious of what is being fed to our minds, through media, politically, academically, etc. We should test it and question it! And on the same note, I believe that the option for people to investigate and believe in answers which are found in the Bible is in danger, and this is obvious when we look to science books and hear quotes from highly respected scientists/mathematicians/philosophers that the theory of Evolution or Darwinism might as well be considered law. (More on that later.)

I have come to realize that my desire is to continually discover and further my personal Biblical world view, to somehow help the church understand what a world view is and to challenge myself and believers on if they really believe that what they believe is really real, and to push and promote Truth from scripture, and to somehow help expose loop holes and lies of popular truth claims found in our culture.

Again, I'm not a scholar nor a writer, so I hope I can express all my thoughts and burnings by blog. If I don't at least try, like Jeremiah said, "... then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it."

5 comments:

Elise Krepcho said...

that was really a wonderful blog, arianne. i can absolutely tell that you've been inspired and it is inspiring!

Arianne said...

thanks for your feed back elise, it really means a lot to me. thanks for even reading it!!

Elise Krepcho said...

Arianne, I really enjoyed this blog. I think my entire Seminary career has focused on this question. I want my ministry to be about seeking out true truth. I just edited my comment because I realized its one of those things that would take two seconds to say but three paragraphs to write out. So next time you talk to Elise I'll just tell you real quick.

Now let me just say I AM SO GLAD YOU ARE READING FRANCIS SCHAEFFER. And wouldn't you know that you are reading one of the few books I haven't read by him. I'll be looking for a book review post soon. I can't wait to talk to you and Bill about it sometime.

Lastly, thank you for all your posts on my blog. I didn't know if I should respond to them here or not. So I just responded to each of them on my blog individually.

There is a definite need in the Body today for people to reason through their faith. alright elise is calling for me...good job.

Unknown said...

sorry that last one was me

Unknown said...

Here's a really good article about Francis Schaeffer you might be interested in. http://theconstructivecurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2008/04/lessons-from-francis-schaeffer-1912.html